Elastic bulletin-board.



No. 841,291. PATENTED JAN. 15, 1907. F. W. WEEKS. ELASTIC BULLETIN BOARD. APPLIGATIONFILED 00T.l9,1903.

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0 EDD i No. 841,291. PATENTED JAN. 15, 1907.

. P. W. WEEKS.

ELASTIC BULLETIN BOARD.

APPLICATION FILED 001'.19,1903.

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ELASTIC BULLETIN BOARD.

APPLIGATION FILED 0GT.19,1903,

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PATENTED JAN. 15, 1907. F. W. WEEKS. ELASTIC BULLETIN BOARD.

APPLICATION FILED 00T.19.1903

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FRANK W. WEEKS, OF SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS.

ELASTIC BULLETIN-BOARD.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 15, 1907.

Application filed October 19, 1903. Serial No. 177,521.

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRANK W. l/VnEKs, a citizenof the United States of America, and a resident of San Antonio, BeXar county, Texas, have invented a certain new and use ful Improvement in Elastic Bulletin-Boards, of which the following is a specification.

My invention contemplates a bulletinboard of general utility-that is to say, adapted for use in various connections, such, for example, as in stoclcexchanges, in front of newspaper-offices, in churches, in depots, and, in fact, all places where it is desirable to post bulletins and make announcements. It is, however, more particularly adapted for use in brokers offices and other places of like character, where it is desirable to issue bulle tins and display prices, stock-quotations, and things of like nature.

Generally stated, the object of my invention is the provision of an elastic bulletinboard of simple and eflicient construction and adapted for use in various connections and in all situations where the ordinary blackboard has usually sufiiced for posting bulletins and making announcements and adapted for use in some instances where the ordinary blackboard cannot possibly be employed.

A special object is the provision of an elastic bulletin-board of such a construction and arrangement of parts that it can be operated with ease and convenience and in a manner to greatly facilitate the work for which it may be employed.

Another object is the provision of an elastic bulletin-board involving certain details and features of improvement tending to increase the general efficiency and serviceability of a device of this character.

To the foregoing and other useful ends my invention consists in matters hereinafter set forth and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a face view illustrating one form of my improved elastic bulletin-board. Fig. 2 is a vertical section on line 2 2 in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 illustrates another construction of an elastic bulletin-board. Fig. 4 is a vertical section on line 4 4 in Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is an enlarged face view of one of the sections or panels in volved in the construction shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 6 is a vertical section on line 6 6 in Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is an enlarged view of one of the sections or panels involved in the construction shown in Fig. 3. Fig. 8 is a vertical section on line 8 8 in Fig. 7. Fig. 9 is a perspective of one of the removable character-blocks with which the sections or panels may be provided. Fig. 10 is a perspective of one of the eyebolts employed for operating the rods upon which the sections or panels are removably mounted. Fig. 11 is a perspective showing one of the spring-clips or devices by which the sections or panels are removably secured to said rods. Fig. 12 is a perspective showing the back of the block shown in Fig. 9.

As thus illustrated and referring more particularly to Figs. 1 and 2, my improved bulletin-board is, as its name implies, elastic in character, and may comprise a plurality of vertically-arranged sections or panels A. These sections or panels can be arranged side by side and removably mounted upon horizontally-disposed rods B. Said rods can be supported in any suitable manneras, for eX- ample, by means of the bolts I), inserted in the wall of the office or building in which the board is to be mounted. Obviously, these rods can be of a more or less ornamental nature and can be supported on a special structure, or, if desired, they can be mounted directly across doors, windows, or any other place in the oflice where it is desirable or convenient to place the board.

Referring to Figs. 5 and 6, it will be seen that each section or panel can be provided on its back with spring-clips a or any other suitable devices for engaging the said rods. Each section or panel is also provided on its face or front surface with a plurality of appropriately-arranged cavities or recesses a, each formed with outwardly-converging top and bottom surfaces a and a In addition it will be seen that each recess is provided at its upper portion with a rearward extension or subrecess (1 the upper surface of which is practically a continuation of the surface a and the bottom or lower surface a of which inclines downwardly and outwardly at a somewhat more pronounced angle. These recesses, it will be readily understood, can be arranged in vertical columns or horizontal rows, as illustrated. Thus constructed the bulletin-board is composed of a plurality of recessed and vertically-arranged sections and panels arranged side byside, as shown in Fig. 1. The means for posting bulletins on the board and for providing the latter with letters and figures announcing recent stockquotations, prices, or other things consists, preferably, of a number of charaoter-blocks O, adapted to accurately fit the recesses in the said sections or panels and provided on their faces with letters, figures, or other characters. Ordinarily and when the board is not in use the said recesses can be filled with blanks or dummy blocks, and at such time the character-blocks can be allowed to rest in a rack or on a table or any other suitable place. lVhen it is desired to announce a quotation or post any sort of a bulletin, the blanks or dummy blocks can be withdrawn from a suitable number of the recesses or cavities and then replaced with characterblocks adapted to either spell out the desired announcement or to indicate in figures the latest stock-quotations of a particular commodity. Any of the blocks, either the dummy-blocks or the characterblocks, can be readily removed from the recesses or cavities by simply pressing the upper ends inward and into the subrecesses, and thereby tilting the lower ends outward to an extent to permit them to drop out of their own accord or permit them to be pulled out by the hand. Thus, as will be readily seen, the operation of posting something on the board is very easily accomplished, and, furthermore, the quotations or announcements are posted in an orderly and attractive fashion. Unlike the ordinary blackboard nothing is left to the eye in arranging letters and figures on the board, the points of location for the letters or figures being purely arbitrary and unvarying in character. In this way it is not only much easier to read the quotations or bulletins displayed on my improved board, but it is also much easier to follow and keep track of the different quotations relating to a certain stock or commodity. For example, with the ordinary blackboard the quotations on wheat may be started in one column, and further quotations relating to this commodity can then only be made by erasing those already entered up or by establishing a new column at some remote part of the board, the intermediate surface of the board being of course by this time filled with quotations on various other stocks or commodities; but with my improved construction the filling of one column with quotations on May wheat, for example, does not necessitate an erasure or obliteration of quotations already made and neither does it necessitate a continuation of these particular quotations at a remote part of the board. All that is necessary with my improved board when one section or panel becomes filled with quotations of a certain character is to slide or shift adjacent sections or panels slightly to one side and to thereby make room for a fresh section or panel immediately at the right-hand side of the section or panel upon which the said particular quotations have been made. Thus in this way by the provision of a sectional bulletin-board all quotations of a particular character can be kept close together, and consequently it is always easy to trace the line of quotations from beginning to end no matter how long the line may be. If desired, each section or panel can have its length divided into spaces by means of strips of molding a. It is of course obvious that these panels can be of any suitable or desired sizes or dimensions and may be ornamented in any suitable or appropriate manner. They can be made of wood, metal, or other suitable material.

Referring to Figs. 3 and 4, the supportingrods. D are in this case arranged vertically, and the sections or panels E are arranged horizontally. In other words, in Figs. 3 and 4 the sections or panels are arranged one on top of the other in a superimposed manner. This arrangement may for some purposes be preferable to the arrangement shown in Fig. 1. In Fig. 7, which is an enlarged elevation of one of the sections or panels shown in Fig. 3, another use is illustrated for the bulletinboard. In Figs. 1 and 5 the board is illustrated as a means of announcing or displaying stock-quotations, while Fig. 7 illustrates the adaptability of a board for use in front of newspapenoflices and places of like character. Other arrangements are obvious, and it will be readily understood that the sections or panels can be mounted and arranged in any suitable or desired manner. It will be seen that the blocks, owing to their wedge-- like character, when properly seated in the sections or panels are not liable to fall out. The angles of the top and bottom surfaces of the blocks are preferably of the character illustrated, the upper surface being slightly more oblique than the lower. In this way the blocks can, as explained, be tilted back into the subrecesses, so as to release them from the board. Also it is obvious that they can be easily inserted in place in the board simply by inserting their upper ends back into the subrecesses and then bringing them into an upright position in the outer or main recesses. Other constructions and formations are obvious, however, and can be adopted, if desired.

It is of course obvious that the characterblocks can be so formed that when the panels are laid on their faces the blocks can be readily removed by simply giving the panels a sharp blow. Furthermore, it is obvious that character-blocks having letters or figures of different character can be employed, so as to make one kind of information readily distinguishable from all others. This is shown in the drawings, the characters for one commodity being of a difierent color from those employed to announce the price of another commodity. In this way a person interested in the selling price of wheat, for example, can readily locate the quotations on that commodity. Again, the superior legibility of a board of this character when viewed from a distance renders it extremely advantageous as compared with the old boards. If desired, each character-block can have its back provided with a small character corresponding to the character on its face, as shown in Fig. 12, so as to facilitate the selection of these blocks for insertion in the board.

l/Vith my improved construction and arrangement it is obvious that any one of the board-sections can be removed independently of theothers. In other words, the arrangement is such and the means for fastening the sections to the supports can be of such character that any boardsection can be removed without disturbing any of the other sections. Also it is obvious that any of the lettersthat is to say, any of the character devices-can be removed outwardly and directly from the front of the board without disturbing any of the other letters or character devices. Thus, as is also apparent, the board-sections can be arranged in groups at different parts of the supporting structure or different parts of the room. Also it will be understood that one or more board-sections can be used merely to support the letters or character devices'in position to be conveniently used on the other sections in posting the various bulletins. Each character when posted on the board is supported independently of the others. Each character is thus removable from the front of the board in the direction in which the board faces and without disturbing the characters either above and below or at each side thereof. Thus the blocks or characters can be put in and taken out at will and located at any point on the board.

I claim as my invention 1. An elastic bulletin-board comprising a plurality of sections arranged close together, each section having its face provided with a plurality of recesses having outwardly-converging top and bottom surfaces, each of said recesses communicating at its upper portion with a rearward extension or subrecess, and character-blocks adapted to be removably inserted in said recesses; said blocks being adapted to be removed from the front of said board by tilting their upper ends into the said subrecesses.

2. An elastic bulletin board comprising suitably-mounted metallic rods, and a plurality of bulletin-board sections provided with means for adjustably mounting them upon said rods, each section being removable independently of and without disturbing the other or others.

3. An elastic bulletin-board, comprising a plurality of sections, a supporting-b ack, there being a plurality of outwardly-converging recesses in the face of each section, and a series of rearwardly-projecting recesses in said supporting-back communicating with said first-named recesses.

4. An elastic bulletin-board, comprising a plurality of sections, a supporting-back, there being a plurality of outwardly-converging recesses in the face of each section, and a series of rearwardly and upwardly projecting recesses in said supporting-back communicating with said first-named recesses.

5. An elastic bulletin-board, comprising a plurality of sections, a supporting-b ack, there being a plurality of outwardly-converging recesses in the face of each section, and a series of rearwardly and upwardly projecting recesses in said supporting-back communicating with the upper portions of said first named recesses.

6. An elastic bulletin-board, comprising a plurality of sections, a supporting-b ack, there being a plurality of outwardly-converging recesses in the face of each section, and a series of rearwardly-projecting recesses in said supporting-back communicating with said firstnamed recesses, and a series of indicatingblocks adapted to fit in said first-named recesses.

' 7. An elastic bulletin-board, comprising a plurality of sections, a supporting-b ack, there being a plurality of outwardly-converging recesses in the face of each section, and a series of rearwardly and upwardly projecting recesses in said supporting-back communicating with said first-named recesses, and a series of indicating-blocks adapted to fit in said first-named recesses.

8. An elastic bulletin-board, comprising a plurality of sections, a supporting-back, there being a plurality of outwardly-converging recesses in the face of each section, and a series of rearwardly and upwardly projecting recesses in said supporting-back communicating with the upper portions of said firstnamed recesses, and a series of indicatingblocks adapted to fit in said first-named recesses.

Signed by me at San Antonio, Bexar county, Texas, this 29th day of September,

FRANK W. WEEKS. Witnesses MARY E. THAYER, O. A. GAGER.

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